The mining industry frequently utilizes mills (e.g., rotary mills, ball mills, rod mills, semiautogenous mills, autogenous mills, etc.) to reduce the size of masses of material structures (e.g., ore) mined from the earthen formations. During use and operation of a mill, mined structures (and, optionally, other structures, such as balls, rods, etc.) are typically lifted and dropped back onto other mined structures to form relatively smaller structures through the resulting impacts. The process can be continuous, with relatively large mined material structures being delivered into one end of the mill and relatively smaller material structures (e.g., particles) of the mined material exiting an opposite end of the mill.
Generally, internal surfaces of a mill are covered (e.g., lined) with wear-resistant structures (e.g., liners, plates, etc.) sized and shaped to prevent damage to the mill resulting from contact between the mined material structures (and, optionally, other structures) and the internal surfaces of the mill during use and operation of the mill. The mined material structures contact and degrade (e.g., wear, abrade, etc.) the wear-resistant structures rather than the internal surfaces of the mill. The wear-resistant structures may be attached to the internal surfaces of the mill by way of bolts, and may be detached and replaced upon exhibiting significant wear. Thus, the wear-resistant structures can prolong the durability and use of the mill.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to determine, particularly when continuous processing is employed, when the wear-resistant structures need to be replaced. Since the wear-resistant structures are located within the mill, the amount of wear exhibited by the wear-resistant structures is generally not easy to ascertain. Typically, the mill must be periodically shut down, cleaned, and physically inspected to determine if the wear-resistant structures need to be replaced. However, as commercial-scale mills are usually quite large and process significant amounts of mined material per hour, periodically shutting down and cleaning the mill to determine the amount of wear exhibited by the wear-resistant structures can be quite costly, inefficient, and impractical.
Accordingly, there remains a need for new devices, assemblies, and methods facilitating the simple and efficient detection and communication of the amount of wear exhibited by wear-resistant structures during mill operations.